diary of an artist in residence at the national maritime museum cornwall

Walk tall

I took some time out from my (small) sculpture project for the National Maritime Museum Cornwall to make a separate proposal for a large piece to be permanently placed in the museum exhibition space.

maquette for large sculpture

I had an idea to make a sculpture much larger than my current “domestic” sized ones. I imagined it soaring up from the ground floor to meet the exhibition boats which are hanging from the ceiling in the museum. I estimated that it should be at least 16 feet tall.

Here is an extract from my proposal:

This proposed sculpture is on a much larger scale than those already planned for the Skeleton exhibition. It will represent a celebration of the museum’s small boat collection and the sea and will be inspired by a range of features gathered from the museum collection. Its purpose will be to engage museum visitors with a striking image which is clearly not a boat and yet based on wooden boat construction. It will stand out as a unique form which, in contrast to the boats in the collection, has no practical function. Its purpose will be to encourage visitors to ask questions and identify links between elements of the museum’s exhibitions.

I wanted to continue my fascination with the patterns in the ribs of wooden boat while in construction. There is something about the graceful curves and repeated shapes which recede into the distance.

At the same time I decided to use the plan view of the sheerline of a typical boat and repeat that shape.

I made drawings and then a maquette to try out these ideas.

The idea has been put on the back burner while I complete the main sculpture project but the maquette will be on display in the exhibition.

Incidentally it has had a major influence on the final sculpture for the exhibition which I have just completed. This will be the subject of my next blog.